THE WAKKER WEEKLY - Issue #1291 - Posted on: 26-Oct-2015

Bushwakker News

Our October wine features are from the Santa Julia Winery in Argentina. The red is the Reserve Malbec and is $8.50 for a glass and $24.95 for a half litre. The white is a Pinot Grigio and is $7.50 for a glass and $21.95 for a half litre.

Our guest draught tap is currently pouring the Anderson Valley Highway 128 The Kimmie, The Yink, and the Holy Gose from California. $8.50 for a pint. Next up will be the Nokomis IRA, an India Red Ale from Nokomis, Saskatchewan.

Our autumn specialty offering, Bushwakker Great Pumpkin Spiced Brown Ale is currently available on tap and in 650ml glass bottles in our off sale.

The Bushwakker has been selected as one of five finalists for the “Cornerstone” category in the 2015 ABEX Awards presented by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. That category relates to both our community involvement and our role in bringing change to our city and province. This is the only ABEX award in which the final decision is made based on popular vote! We are the only business representing Regina. Voting started on September 24th and continues right up to the gala awards on October 24th. You can view our awards submission at http://www.bushwakker.com/cornerstone. If you like what we are doing in your community, please vote for us at www.abexcornerstone.com. You can vote once every 24 hours. Please note that in order to vote you will be prompted to register at the website first, then will be sent a confirmation email, and then your voting capability begins. If you would like to support us and your city, vote and vote often!

Bushwakker Events

Oct. 24: Riders vs Eskimos. Kick-off takes place at Mosaic stadium at 5:00 PM. Plenty of time to enjoy our Eskimo Burger & a Pint feature. Think of it as “devouring” the competition!

Oct. 31: A Celtic Hallowe’en. What a Saturday night this will be! Rollicking Celtic reels from The Tilted Kilts, Great Pumpkin Spiced Brown Ale on tap and a Hallowe’en costume contest at 10:30 PM where the winner will receive a $100 Bushwakker gift card. $5 cover charge begins at 6:00 PM. Band begins at 8:00 PM.

I’ve yet to meet a beer style that has more people either lovin’ or hatin’ on it than pumpkin beer.

This delicious and seasonally-based style is so well-liked that in the month of October it rivals the popularity of India Pale Ale, the top-selling craft beer style in supermarkets across America. In fact, pumpkin beers are so popular that for the first time ever, the style will have its own dedicated category at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival. Yet for every fan, there’s someone else defiantly taking a stand against it.

Why do some beer lovers have their knickers in a bunch over pumpkin beers? Is it the fact that pumpkin beers (along with the rest of the seemingly endless pumpkin-flavored foods and products) are often released before fall properly begins? Or is it the flavor combination of pumpkin and pie spices that creates the divide? Maybe it’s the way some brewers use alternative forms of pumpkin that are not picked fresh from the vine and put straight into the kettle?

To these questions, I say: “Who cares?” Yes, that’s right, I said it. What is gained by bashing or dismissing a beer style or brand? I always encourage beer drinkers to bring along the uninitiated—keeping in mind some can easily be turned away.

We as beer lovers are influencers, and new beer drinkers are impressionable—just as we once were. So if you don’t like a beer or style, don’t hate. Instead, let others decide for themselves.
No one objects to department stores putting out bathing suits in February, long before you’ll be heading to the beach. Everyone loves the taste of grandma’s famous pumpkin pie recipe—and heaven help you if you object to her making it with the same canned ingredients she’s been using since before you were born, kiddo. But for some reason, people think objections like these are legitimate when it comes to pumpkin beer.

Even USA Today’s beer columnist has helped fuel this polarizing frenzy. In a recent article he complained, “Yes, it’s not even Labor Day and pumpkin beers have overrun my favorite beer boutiques. Oktoberfest fans will have to hunt through a patch of pumpkin beers to find those seasonal favorites. OK, I may be exaggerating…a bit.”

To me, this all sounds like a bunch of malarkey! Fall is for whatever fits my fancy at the time, including Oktoberfests, wet hop beers, porters, stouts, pilseners, barley wines, and hell yes, it’s for enjoying seasonally-specific and appropriate spiced pumpkin beers made from fresh, frozen, canned or otherwise preserved squash.

Timing is Everything

Across the board, late summer is the time that retailers use to get us into the fall mood. Why should it be different for craft brewers? Brewing, packaging and marketing a beer takes time, not to mention if the beer is to be barrel-aged, or requires longer to ferment. And timing is important when brewers consider keeping up with their core brands while also adding a seasonal beer.

Plus, thirsty pumpkin lovers expect their favorite seasonal to arrive on time and in quantity. Google searches for “pumpkin beer” spike every year from late summer through the fall, exceeding searches for all other seasonal beer terms combined, as you can see in the graph below compiled by Brewers Association staff economist Bart Watson.

Watson says those searches really do correlate with the beers we buy and drink. In 2013, pumpkin beers led a surge in seasonal sales, which were lagging behind the ever popular India pale ale by about 125,000 cases going into that August. The release of pumpkin beers put seasonals at the front of the craft beer pack by 300,000 cases during September and October, and could do so again this year.

TIME OUT - From the Beginning of Time

One day God and Adam were walking in the garden. God told Adam it was time to populate the earth.
He told Adam, "Adam, you can start by kissing Eve." Adam replied "God, what is a kiss?"
God told Adam and Adam went and took Eve behind the bush and kissed her. A little while later, Adam came back out with a big smile and said "Wow Lord! That was great!! What next?"
God said, "Adam, I now want you to caress Eve." Adam says, "Lord what is a caress?" God explained it to Adam and he again took her behind the bush.
A little while later, he came out and said "Lord that was even better than a kiss! What next." God said, "Here is what gets the deed done. I now want you to take Eve and make love to her."
Adam said "Lord, what is to make love?" God explained and Adam took Eve behind the bush and a few seconds later came out and said "Lord, what is a headache?"

Our New Autumn Weekend Special is a Prime Rib & Giant Yorkie Dinner (available in two sizes)

Soup & Sandwich Special is $11.95. All hot specials are $15.95, except where noted, and include a serving of soup du jour, chopped, or Caesar salad.